TALLADEGA, Alabama - Denny Hamlin says he considers himself the most unenthusiastic person around when it comes to practice for a race at a superspeedway.

But the man who is generally really laid back said he was practically giddy at the chance to get behind the wheel today for practice for the Aaron's 499 at Talladega Superspeedway.

"Last night it was tough to sleep knowing that I was going to get back in the car for the first time," Hamlin said. "If it wasn't for my crew chief (Darian Grubb), I would've stayed out there until I ran out of gas."

Hamlin has been on the shelf since he suffered a compression fracture in his lower spine during a crash on March 24, 2013. He was racing for the win against former teammate Joey Logano on the final lap of the NASCAR Sprint Cup series auto race in Fontana, Calif., when the two wrecked and Hamlin was injured.

Hamlin is back, just not enough for him to truly push himself.

"I'm obviously going to put myself in what I believe is a safe position," he said. "Obviously you can't help things like blown tires or whatever that could possibly happen, but like I said I think the equivalency of our risks this weekend will be taking a knee."

Hamlin expects his excitement to really rise next week at Darlington, where he expects to compete more fully.

"I can now," he said of Sunday. "I am just choosing not to in the race."

While Hamlin will start the race Sunday, it's pretty much a sure thing that he won't finish it, relinquishing the No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota Camry to Brian Vickers during a caution at some point along the way. Vickers has been driving the car while Hamlin's been out.

"I just wanted to feel speed again," Hamlin said. "We're competitors and when you see the people on TV and other sports fighting through injuries to get back on the field or the court we feel that same thing. We have alligator blood. It's just we're a different breed that are willing to throw caution to the wind just to get back to what we love doing."

The racer said there's no discomfort when he's inside the car. His greatest discomfort comes when he's getting out of the car, which is why he's going through the roof instead of the window.

"It's much easier on me," he said. "Really any kind of twisting we can keep out of myself will be good. Really, inside the race car I feel just like I did six, seven weeks ago. I'm excited about this weekend and finally getting back going again."

Hamlin said it takes a year for a bone to heal. That said, he said he's been told that it would take "a significant hit that you probably would be injured

from it even if you were 100 percent healthy."

"We're just trying to buy myself another week obviously until Darlington," Hamlin said of his planned abbreviated ride. "The risk is so minimal that it's almost not even there."